With thousands of young women filing lawsuits against the makers of the popular birth control pills Yaz and Yasmin, many people are wondering if the FDA will finally see the light and issue a recall.
Generally, the FDA will recall drugs that have been proven dangerous to patients and/or if the drug’s been proven to present a high enough risk that it actually outweighs the good that the drug does. While it is not possible yet to prove when a drug’s risk outweighs the benefits in a scientific way, the fact remains that many young women have died as a result of using Yaz and its sister drug, Yasmin.
Research has proven that Yaz and Yasmin pose a direct threat to some users’ health. These potentially life-threatening side effects include heart attacks, strokes, pulmonary embolisms, gallbladder disease and blood clots. Research also shows that it is the pill’s main medicinal ingredient, drosperinone, that poses this threat. More studies will have to be done in order to prove that birth control pills that have drosperinone in them will be crucial when it comes time for the FDA to decide upon the risk-benefit profile of drugs that haven’t been out on the market for at least ten years.
This shouldn’t be hard to prove since there have been at least 50 deaths reported between the years 2004-2008 alone by the families of young women that were taking Yaz or Yasmin. However, there are plenty of current studies that already show the links between drosperinone and life-threatening conditions, and as many as 6,000 women already have filed lawsuits against Bayer alleging that the company didn’t properly represent the dangers in taking the pills. They are also alleging that Bayer misadvertised the pills and their benefits regarding clearing acne and helping to reduce the symptoms of PMS.
Whatever the results are from future studies, many women and their families are hoping that Yaz and Yasmin are taken off the market soon. The question isn’t so much a matter of if the FDA will recall the pills that contain drosperinone, but when.
